Turbine Residency
From October 12-26, 2014, I worked with dancers & singers, researched the history of the Fairmount Water Works and met with Philadelphia experts. This was in preparation for TURBINE, a site-responsive performance co-commissioned by Leah Stein Dance Company and the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia for the 200th anniversary of this historic site.
Planning Turbine
Rehearsals
- on-site singing & movement studies with Leah Stein Dance Company
- attended Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia Big Sing rehearsal at Girard Chapel
Round Table
- Byron Au Yong, composer
- Michelle Hollander, water resources engineer
- Adam Levine, consultant, Philadelphia Water Department
- Deenah Loeb, executive director, City Parks Association
- Leah Stein, choreographer
- Karen Young, executive director, Fairmount Water Works
Visual Culture Program at the Library Company of Philadelphia
- illustrations & photographs of the Water Works
- found article that talked about the necessary "din of industry"
- noted how smokestacks and pastoral scenes co-existed in paintings
Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center
Philadelphia Water Department (Philly H20)
Philadelphia Wastewater Treatment Plant
River Boat Ride (Schuylkill Banks)
Performances
Guest Teaching & Site Visit
The Water Works was the first urban public water supply system in the United States. From my visit, I realized that Philadelphia and Seattle are built between two waterways. Moreover, both cities protect and restore urban watersheds. It's great to know these cities advocate for clean water as a civic obligation and human right.
- water treatment, hands-on displays, historic details, ecological action steps
- quotes from Charles Dickens and Frances Trollope
Philadelphia Water Department (Philly H20)
- interviewed author/historical consultant Adam Levine
- learned about newspaper clippings & historic cartoons
- received copies of sheet music inspired by the Water Works from the 1800s
Philadelphia Wastewater Treatment Plant
- visit with Adam Levine and Leah Stein
- gathered wood templates from the 1920s
- saw incoming sewage area
- received Imagining Philadelphia: Travelers' Views of the City from 1800 to the Present
River Boat Ride (Schuylkill Banks)
- named Pennsylvania's 2014 River of the Year
- Schuylkill feels more like a canal with concrete sides
Performances
- Eiko: A Body in a Station at 30th Street Station
- Kenny Endo, Kaoru Watanabe, Sō Percussion at Princeton
Guest Teaching & Site Visit
- Science Leadership Academy
- Sidney Hillman Apartments
The Water Works was the first urban public water supply system in the United States. From my visit, I realized that Philadelphia and Seattle are built between two waterways. Moreover, both cities protect and restore urban watersheds. It's great to know these cities advocate for clean water as a civic obligation and human right.